Without a formal declaration of war, Napoleon's Grand Armée crossed the Niemen river into Russia during the night of 23 June 1812, with the intention of penetrating between the two Russian armies. Prepared to crush them in rapid succession, the French army moved swiftly.
Czar Alexander hoped to halt military actions and avoid war, but his delegation to Napoleon was rebuffed. The Russians employed the strategy earlier arrived at and began a slow retreat toward the interior. On 8 July, General Barclay's First Army avoided an attack intended for it in the Vilnius region. A planned counter-attack on 14 July had to be called off because the two Russian armies could not be joined against the French. Czar Alexander, who had been with the First Army, returned to Moscow four days later without appointing a successor as commander-in-chief. That role was taken by General Barclay as the war minister. The First Army continued its retreat toward Smolensk, with rear-guard actions against the French at Vitebsk an Ostrovno.
General Bagration's Second Army retreated toward Minsk, fighting rear-guard actions against Jérôme's army.
The French army was slowed by heat and a colic epidemic among the horses.
Jérôme failed to carry out instructions, so Napoleon replaced him with Davout at the head of the III Corps. Davout entered Minsk on July 8.
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Last Updated Saturday, October 4, 1997.